One aspect of this invention relates to the treatment of chronic viral infections by administration of homeopathic dilutions of growth factors. Chronic viral infections, such as herpes simplex virus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), papilloma virus, Coxsackie B, hauta virus and hepatitis virus, affect signal transduction mechanisms with deleterious effects within and between the host's immune and nervous systems. During chronic viral infection, host cell signal transduction and cell cycle regulation are altered, often causing cell injury and cell death.
Viruses lack the necessary biochemical machinery to manufacture proteins and must therefore insert their genetic material into a host cell genome in order to proliferate. Viruses consist of a protein coat and genetic material. RNA viruses additionally contain reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that translates the RNA into a DNA strand before insertion in the host cell genome.
During viral infection, the protein coat binds to the host cell's surface membrane enabling viral genetic information to subsequently enter the host cell. Entry occurs via various methods, one of which is attachment to specific membrane receptors, including growth factor receptors. For example, the cell receptors for the Epstein Barr and herpes simplex type 1 viruses have been identified as the third component of the complement receptor and the fibroblast growth factor receptor, respectively. Insertion of viral genetic information into the host cell's genome subverts the cell's normal metabolic and genetic mechanisms in order to prioritize viral gene expression and replication.
Chronic, or long-term, viral infections occur when the virus overcomes or effectively disrupts the normal neuronal and immunological defense mechanisms of the host. During early infection, several viruses, such as herpes simplex virus, EBV, human herpes 6 virus (HH6V), hepatitis and HIV can be asymptomatic as immune responses and viral replication remain in balance in specific cell populations. Viral replication occurs in response to extracellular stimuli (Garcia-Blanco, M. A. and Cullen, B. R. 1991 Science 254:815-820). Infections persist as continuous viral replication occurs without substantial disruption of host cell function. Chronic viral infections terminate only when viral replication is disrupted.
Viral infection erodes feedback communication between the host's immune and nervous systems. For example, synthesis of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) by lymphocytes after viral infection disrupts the normal feedback loop between pituitary/hypothalamus secretion of ACTH and the adrenal gland's synthesis of glucocorticoids in response to ACTH signals. Over-expression of ACTH causes increased expression of glucocorticoids which consequentially down-regulates the pituitary and suppresses the activities of T lymphocytes. This constant stress response often leads to extreme fatigue and exhaustion in patients with chronic vital infections. In an immune compromised patient, chronic infection leads to entry of virions into the bloodstream, the lymphatic vessels and/or the nerve pathways resulting in infection of new and distant cell populations.
Long-term DNA viral infections correlate with chronic or cancerous illnesses. For example, hepatitis B viral infection was correlated with liver cirrhosis 44% of the time and primary hepatocellular carcinoma 58% of the time compared to 17% in a control group. EBV infection was correlated with Hodgkin's disease of the mixed cellularity type 60% of the time. Herpes type viral nucleic acid sequences from herpes simplex 1 and 2, cytomegalovirus and EBV was found in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with acute encephalitis. HH6V has been found to be a cofactor in causing chronic fatigue syndrome and AIDS. The ability of viruses to cause cancer is contained within specific sequences of the viral genome, known as oncogenes, that modulate gene transcription and regulation.
Gene transcription and regulation are modulated under normal conditions by growth factors. Growth factors are cell signalling polypeptides that bind to specific cell membrane receptors and initiate a cascade of intracellular events that affect cell proliferation and differentiation. As stated above, many growth factors bind to the same cell surface receptors as viruses and therefore activate the same metabolic pathways used by viral infected or transformed cells.
There are gene sequence homologies between growth factors, proto-oncogenes and viral oncogenes. Normal non-cancer cells contain proto-oncogenes that are homologous to the oncogene sequences found in some cancer causing viruses. Proto-oncogene as well as oncogene sequences have the power to regulate the cell cycle. Growth factors regulate the cell cycle by manipulating proto-oncogenes. Some proto-oncogene sequences are homologous with growth factors or their receptors. For example, the B chain of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is homologous to the proto-oncogene c-sis (Doolittle, R. F., et al. 1983 Science 221:275-77). The receptor for epidermal growth factor (EGF) is homologous to the proto-oncogene c-erb.beta. (Downward, et al. 1984 Nature 307:521-527).
Growth factors and viruses use the same transcription sites to regulate cell proliferation and/or viral replication, and are thus in a somewhat competitive state with one another. For example, TGF.beta. plays a critical role in the transmission of biological information by acting as an on/off switch that couples cell behavior to the external environment. Within the TGF.beta. promoter lies the proto-oncogene c-fos which codes for key transcription factors located at AP-1 transcription sites. Subversion of c-fos gene expression by HIV enhances HIV transcription and replication independent of control sites located at tat and NF.sub.k 62 (Roebuck, K. A. et al. 1993 J. Clin. Invest. 92:1336-1348). Viral transcription in the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), a virus with many characteristics similar to HIV, is tightly regulated by a Tax transactivator site located at the c-fos AP-1 site within the TGF.beta. promoter (Kim etal. 1990 J. Exp. Med. 172:121-129). When the TGF.beta. promoter is activated so is HTLV-1 Tax. Chronic viral infection coincides with aberrant expression of growth factors throughout the body as viruses have evolved to successively overcome the regulatory actions of their competitors, growth factors.
Chronic viral infections can lead to up-regulation of growth factor expression. For example, HIV infection up-regulates expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF.alpha.) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF.beta.). Over-expression of either of these growth factors disrupts normal transcriptional control of gene expression, leading to suppression of hematopoietic progenitor cells and increased HIV replication. TGF.beta., secreted by HIV-infected lymphocytes, also promotes growth of Kaposi's sarcoma cells, fibroblasts and endothelial cells.
Specific hemopoietic growth factors have been used to treat diseases such as AIDS and cancer. Hemopoietic growth factors are logical therapeutic immunomodulators to use for treatment of chronic viral infections and other diseases for several reasons. First, endogenous growth factors such as granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) stimulate proliferation of hemopoietic progenitor cells. Second, lymphocytes, macrophages and natural killer cells that normally produce these factors are quantitatively and qualitatively defective after infection by HIV, HH6V or EBV. Third, primates infused with GM-CSF showed low toxicity with some positive but inconsistent rises in platelet number.
However, clinical studies on AIDS patients using GM-CSF and M-CSF at pharmacological concentrations (ug/kg/day) have produced mixed results. For example, injections or intravenous administration of GM-CSF at concentrations of 0.5-0.8 ug/kg/day transiently increased leukocyte, neutrophil, eosinophil and monocyte counts in AIDS patients with no significant rise in platelet counts or change in reticulocyte and lymphocyte counts (Miles, S. 1992 AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses 8:1073-1080). Subcutaneous injections of 0.25-4.0 ug/kg/day improved leukocyte counts with no improvement in hemoglobin or platelet counts. However, the side effects included increased HIV replication, increased levels of P24 antigen, chills, nausea, myalgia and flu-like symptoms (Poli, G. et al. 1991 J. Exp. Med. 173:589-597; Scadden, D. T. 1990 Hematopoietic Growth Factors in Trans. Med., Wiley-liss Inc., New York, pp. 163-176). GM-CSF also occasionally caused thrombocytopenia. Granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been effective in correcting neutropenia with some minor increases in lymphocyte counts. Additionally, hemoglobin and reticulocytes increased in numbers in patients given G-CSF alone or in combination with erythropoietin. However, resumption of treatment with AZT after use of these growth factors led to severe anemia. Pharmacological doses of growth factors often have harsh side effects.
Homeopathy, which dates back to the nineteenth century, is founded on the principles of pharmacology. One of the earliest laws of pharmacology, representing the homeopathic effect, is known as the Arndt-Schultz law. Formulated by Arndt in 1888 and restated by Hueppe, the law states: for every substance, small doses stimulate, moderate doses inhibit, large doses kill. Allopathic medicine, with its emphasis on moderate drug doses, works to inhibit undesired physical symptoms and to kill undesired pathogens. Homeopathic medicine begins with small doses and moves towards higher and higher dilutions to stimulate the body's own natural electromagnetic forces.
Homeopathic and allopathic principles can be represented on the same sinusoidal curve (shown in FIG. 1). There are several harmonic concentrations over a log scale of dilutions that give the same desired effect. Oscillatory data demonstrating the stimulating and inhibiting effect of log dilutions of anti-IgE antisera which caused human basophil degranulation have been generated and reproduced (Davehas, E., Beauvais, F. et al. Nature 333:816-818, 1988; Beneviste, J., Davenas, E. et al. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 312, series II, pp. 461-466, 1991). Control studies using dilutions of antihuman IgG antisera or simply distilled water did not produce this same effect. One of the basic tenets of homeopathic medicine is that a cure for a disease can be evoked by using a high dilution medicine that resembles but is different from the cause of the disease. Homeopathy is widely accepted as a useful therapeutic throughout Europe, the British Commonwealth countries and India, and has been demonstrated to have characteristic and reproducible effects. A critical review of more than 100 controlled and/or clinical studies of homeopathy determined that patients received positive healing benefits from homeopathy beyond the placebo effect (Kleijnen, J. et al. 1991 Brit. Med. J. 302:316-323).
Many homeopathic medicines are used at concentrations of micrograms (10.sup.-6 M) and nanograms (10.sup.-12 M); however, other homeopathic dilutions exceed Avogadro's number (6.023.times.10.sup.-23). When homeopathic compounds are diluted 1:10, with repeated succusions (similar to vortexing) and repetitively diluted by this procedure at least 24 times a potency is achieved (10.sup.-24) that is so highly dilute that the probability of a single molecule of the original substance remaining in the volume used is less than 1.times.10.sup.-10. Homeopathic practitioners believe that the potency of a compound increases with increasing dilutions. The standard homeopathic dosage is 10-15 drops of a 10.sup.-12 molar, or 6C, solution administered two to three times per day. A 10.sup.-60 molar or 30C may be given only one time per day. A 10.sup.-400 molar or 200C may be given only one time per month or year. A 6C dilution approximates 1 ng/ml, which is used in cell culture but would be considered a lower than physiological dose when administered to a patient either orally or by injection.
Highly dilute homeopathic medicines have been effective in treating some viruses in vivo. Homeopathic dilutions of 1.times.10.sup.-200 to 1.times.10.sup.-1000 of typhoidinum, hydrophobinum, tuberculinum, nux vomica and malandrinum 100% inhibited pock-like lesions caused by a chicken embryo DNA virus on the chorio-allantoic membrane compared to controls (Singh, L. M. and Gupta, G. 1985 Brit. Homeopathy 74:168-174). Other homeopathic medicines, the same medicines at different homeopathic concentrations or control phosphate buffered solution (PBS), had lesser to no effect.
One of the advantages of homeopathic medicine in the treatment of chronic viral infections is apparent in terms of viral mutation. One of the problems associated with the use of allopathic pharmaceuticals is the drug resistance that develops as viruses mutate during frequent cycles of replication. For example, detailed kinetic studies on HIV viral load with antiviral therapy have demonstrated that the half-life of HIV in plasma is every two days. In other words, 30% of the viral load measured on any given day was produced in the last 24 hours. HIV is the most rapidly replicating and mutating virus known to man. Homeopathic therapeutics are superior to allopathic therapeutics in the treatment of chronic viral infections since homeopathic medicines, such as high dilutions of growth factors, have no molecules that viruses, such as HIV, can mutate against. Homeopathic dilutions of growth factors probably activate signal transduction pathways without using signaling molecules.
While the exact mechanism of action of homeopathic medicines is unknown, magnetic image resonance measurements on serial dilutions of substances indicate that the hydroxyl (OH) groups in the solvent of solutions continue to change as dilutions become successively higher (Sacks, A. D. 1983 J. Holistic Med. 5:175-176; Smith, R. and Boericke, G. 1968 J. Am. Inst. Homeopathy 61:197-212; Smith, R. and Boericke, G. 1966 J. Am. Inst. Homeopathy 59:263-279). It is clear that the specific effects of homeopathics are of a non-molecular origin, yet provide potent biological information that is clinically effective. It has been postulated that highly dilute compounds transfer biological activity to cells by electromagnetic fields (Benveniste, J. 1993 Frontier Perspectives 3:13-15).
Experiments in several laboratories have provided evidence that a specific biological activity can be initiated and/or modulated by highly dilute substances that contain hardly a molecule. An argument against a molecular basis for the activity is that heating dilutions to 70.degree. F. for 30 minutes or exposure to magnetic field strengths of 50 Hz, 150 gauss, for 15 minutes totally suppresses these effects. Del Giudice et al. have hypothesized that interactions between the electric dipoles of water and the radiation fields of a charged molecule generate a permanent polarization of water which becomes coherent and has the ability to transmit specific information to cell receptors, somewhat like a laser (Del Giudice, E., Preparata, G., Vitiello, G. 1988, Phys. Rev. Lett. 61:1085-1088).
The cell surface membrane is the interface between electromagnetic waves and biological activity of cells. Cell membranes maintain a carefully controlled surface potential that is transiently altered by electromagnetic fields, viral attachment, and binding of neurotransmitters, hormones and growth factors to their receptors. Liboff suggests that specific ionic currents are induced by Faraday's Law which affects the cell surface receptors and ion channels. (A. R. Liboff 1985, J. Biol. Physics 13:99-102.) In specific regions of the cell, such as the location of ionic channels and cell receptors, there may be reduced wave scattering. Ionic species or charged side chains on cell receptors, will follow a resonating circular or helical well-defined orbit under the influence of electromagnetic signals. Liboff points out that channelized ions are constrained to move along helical paths. Similarly, receptor molecules are constrained within the lipid bilayer and will resonate with specific frequencies given proper periodic stimulus. Any movement or conformational changes of growth factor receptors will induce signal transduction processes. The well-ordered water molecules that participate in intermolecular hydrogen bonding networks are present in the interface regions between growth factors and their receptors, however they are not significant for protein binding (Clackson, T. and Wells, J. A., 1995 Science 267:383-386). Ordered water molecules are observed in several other protein-protein interfaces and can be present in both the bound and unbound states. For example, water molecules which fill gaps between imperfectly packed regions of human growth hormone receptors' extracellular domain in the ligand/receptor bound state are fully available for electromagnetic activation in the unbound state. The integration of these separate schools of thought suggests that high dilutions of substances create changes in electromagnetic forces inducing resonance in cell surface signal proteins thus transferring biological activity through cell receptors or ionic channels and initiating signal transduction processes.
Bioelectromagnetics underlies biochemical reactions. The science of bioelectromagnetics studies the interactions of electromagnetic fields in living systems (Rubik, R. and Flower, R. G. 1994 Electromagnetic applications in medicine, Expanding Medical Horizons: Report to NIH on the Status of Alternative Medicine, U.S. Govt. Printing office, Washington, D.C.; Tenforde, T. S. and Kaune, W. T. 1987 Health Physics 53:585-606). Electrical stimulation of cells temporally changes the cell's membrane potential and evokes consequential changes of RNA, DNA and protein synthesis (Bourguignon, G. J. and Bourguignon, L. Y. 1987 FASEB J. 1:398-402; Rodan, G. A. et al. 1978 Science 190:690-692). Several studies on the effects of administering electromagnetic signals have been published. For example, Thomas et al. demonstrated behavioral changes in rats following administration of a cyclotron electromagnetic field which resonates for the signal for unhydrated lithium ions (Thomas J. R. et al. 1986 Bioelectromagnetics 7:349-357). Researchers also report inhibition of tumor growth after administration of human interferon alpha (IFN.alpha.) plus DC current (Sersa, G. and Miklavcic, D. 1990 Molecular Biotherapy 2:165-168). Electrical stimulation of epidermal fibroblast cells has been shown to regulate both transforming growth factor-beta and insulin receptors (Falanga, V., Bourguignon G. J., Brougiugnon, L. Y. 1987 J. Invest. Dermatol. 88:488; Bourguignon, G. J., Jy, W., Bourguignon, L. Y. 1989 J. Cell. Physiol. 140:379-385). The cell membrane, and in fact the whole body, respond to electrical and magnetic stimuli and are thus receptive to communications beyond the level of biochemical and molecular mechanisms.
Few effective treatments are available for disorders such as chronic viral infections, cancer and diabetes. Insulin-dependant diabetes, while regulated by insulin still has many systemic complications. Despite more than ten years of aggressive research, both conventional and naturopathic, no definitive treatment exists for HIV infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). There thus continues to be a need in the art for effective treatments for chronic viral infections, cancer and diabetes.